Martin Svensson gave an interview where he said his arm was killing him when he woke up, and he couldn’t move it at all. Dana White gathered all the contestants up and announced that Martin has a broken elbow, and will not be able to continue. Chris Gruetzemacher is now stepping in for him against Artem Lobov.

When the fighters made it back to the house, they were greeted by dozens of girls in bikinis, their coaches, and Dana, who told them that because their fights have been so great and they’ve been working so hard, he threw them a pool party. They were clearly having a blast, and Conor made the cameras leave after a little while, telling them, “We’ve got ALL the footage we need!”

Artem Lobov (IRE) vs Chris Gruetzemacher (USA)

Round 1- Artem Lobov is such an interesting fighter to watch, because of how relaxed his stance is. Gritz was clearly working hard, and coming at Artem fast, but couldn’t block anything that came his way. Lobov punches with so much power, it actually looks comical. His stance looks like he’s waiting for someone to come out of the bathroom, so he’s standing outside, leaning against a wall, and then he throws bombs. Gruetzemacher was fast, though, and was able to get Artem in the clinch a few times, landing not-as-powerful shots. The hits he was eating caught up to him, because by the time he hit his corner, his face was really busted up.

Round 2- We got to see Chris Gruetzemacher be more aggressive than ever in the second round of this fight, but he wasn’t able to keep it up after taking a few more of Lobov’s punches. It slowed him down tremendously, and he got dropped early on. Gritz was able to make it back to his feet, but he was so out of it, he got knocked out soon after.

Artem Lobov def. Chris Gruetzemacher via KO R2

Conor McGregor immediately jumped into the cage, and onto the back of Artem after the knockout. I think the entire coaching experience was worth it for Conor, simply for getting to see his friend win fights.

Ryan Hall vs Saul Rogers is up next, and Hall talked about his heel hook. He actually laughed out loud at the thought of Saul stopping it. Like, legitimate laughter. I love this guy.

Saul Rogers’ training seemed to consist of only 50/50 position defense. I’m sure he did some other stuff, but it’s the only thing shown to the viewer, and I think that really shows how powerful Ryan Hall is from that position. It’s like Ronda with an armbar. Once it’s in, it’s in.

Ryan Hall (USA) vs Saul Rogers (ENG)

Round 1- Urijah Faber said it before the fight began, and it turned out to be true. I was really impressed with Ryal Hall’s stand up. For a guy who is known for his jiu-jitsu only, he held his own against Rogers. The two focused on kicks more than anything, but more were missed than landed. Ryan Hall defended a takedown very well, and Saul Rogers was able to stop Hall from gaining the heel hook. Rogers had only a slight advantage, because of punches that he landed.

Round 2- Rogers landed an early takedown and held Ryan down for a minute. After he let Hall up, he dropped him with a right hand, but Hall was quick to recover. After this, you could tell that Ryan Hall was desperate. He went for many takedown variations and heel hook attempts, but didn’t get any of them. Saul denied him of every attempt, and quite frankly, dominated the round.

Saul Rogers def. Ryan Hall via majority decision

The highlight of this episode for me came from Dana White reading the judge’s scores before announcing the winner. The first judge scored the fight 19-19, which was a preposterous score. They cut to Conor, who was PUZZLED, and he muttered to himself, “What the fuck?”

Another episode down, another fun recap. I can’t stress enough how much I enjoy watching The Ultimate Fighter and recapping it this season. I appreciate your feedback, as always. See you next week!